Medicare debate not over yet

As President Bush signs the new Medicare bill into law today, Democrats reportedly are gearing up a campaign to overturn parts of the law. In Spokane, Democratic U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell plans to hold a town hall discussion with guest speaker Max Richtman of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare on Jan. 7 at a local senior center. (If you looked at this item earlier today and saw a different date, you're not going crazy. Organizers have postponed the event.)

Here at the newspaper, we're planning another online chat with an expert on the Medicare bill. Trudy Lieberman reports on health-care issues for Consumer Reports. She has won 10 National Press Club awards and co-authored "How to Plan for a Secure Retirement."

"I will give your readers an earful," she told me in an e-mail. "It's all the stuff AARP didn't tell them."

The chat with Lieberman will be at noon Pacific time on Dec. 16. Click here to post a question now. And click here to join the chat at noon Dec. 16.